Military Coup in Upper Volta 1983

[ 1983 ]

Captain Blaise Compaore (1951-) helped organize the successful 1983 military coup that installed Captain Thomas Sankara (1949-87) as president of the landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso (a former French colony known as Upper Volta, which gained independence in 1960 and later [1984] changed its name to Burkina Faso, meaning "Land of Upright Men" in the local Mossi and Dioula languages). Sankara - a popular, charismatic, and upright leader - improved the country's agriculture and public health services, but apparently his inchoate concentration of power helped lead to a blood rebellion...